The Winter It Didn’t Snow

Taos Valley Overlook scene

Taos Valley Overlook scene from just two days ago

One tends not to complain in February when the daily highs run ten to twenty degrees above normal under big blue skies. I took this photo on Friday, when I was hiking in my shorts! This is more than passing strange, however. It snowed hard once back in November and again in early December, if I remember right, but ever since we’ve only seen a couple of dustings that disappear by noon. Those don’t count, except in Texas.

I don’t have anything sensible to say about this. Living in the moment means I love it. Thinking about wells going dry at some point is for others, not anyone I know here. It’s happening elsewhere, though, and drillers are riding the edge of a boom. In the Imperial Valley of California, for example, you’ll have to wait a whole year to get your well re-drilled. Just a temporary fix, of course.

It’s supposed to be 63 °F today. Yesterday the high at the Albuquerque Sunport was 70 °F, the average daily high for April 20th. Only nine weeks early, in other words. Right now, in February, is when New Mexico usually receives the most precipitation (in the form of snow), but nothing’s happening. No wagon trains headed east, either.

We’ll just have to see, I guess. I’m putting on my shorts and going hiking again right now. No matter what else happens, I’ll be in shape and have a tan.

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John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on About page. For a complete list of all John’s writing, photography, NFTs, and social media links, please visit JHFARR.ART  

  • kaye February 16, 2014, 12:01 PM

    Well, shucks! and pass the cheddar cheese….I sure am jealous! Wisconsin has a winter storm warning for Monday! Hubby is outside blowing snow with the neighbors from yesterday’s storm.
    But as you say, live in the moment, it’s pretty anyway.

  • christian ienni February 16, 2014, 1:36 PM

    you’re getting what we’re getting on the coast, only a couple days later. here in the Bay Area, between december & february it rained exactly ONE day (dec. 5). since then we’ve had a couple days rain this month, but nothing like what it should be (it drizzled a little last night, now it’s sunny & high 60s/low 70s again). come summer there’s going to be one HELL of a drought!
    meanwhile east of the rockies they’re getting the “polar vortex” deep freeze, with snow as far south as Georgia!
    live in the moment is right. future generations are fucked!

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